Folding chair.



No. 805,971. PATENTED NOV. 28, 1905/ o. METTLER.

FOLDING CHAIR.

APPLICATION rum) NOV. 5,1903..

2 SHEETS-SHBBT 1.

UNITED STATES PATENT oEEICE.

CASPAR METTLER, C NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR or ONE- HALF To ROLLIN s. WOODRUFF, or NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

FOLDING CHAIR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 28, 1905.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, OASPAR METTLER, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of'New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Im rovements in Folding Chairs, of which the fo lowing is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to im rovernents in folding chairs of the description commonly known as camp or steamer chairs.

The object of the invention is to produce a chair by the utilization of a very few simply and cheaply formed parts which when set up is very strong and also comfortable and which may be folded to avery compact and flat form, so each folded chair will occupy a minimum of space andso that large numbers of the chairsmaybe piledor stacked up evenly or regularly.

The invention embodies in a folding chair the combination with a frame constituting the back and in part the le support'for the seat and the seat rearwardly pivotally connected to an intermediate portion of said frame, paired bars, the upper forward ends of which are pivotally connected to the opposite forward portions of the seat and arranged to obliquely cross the lower seat-supporting portion of said frame below the seat, and devices arranged relatively to each of saidpaired bars andto the adjacent seat-supporting portions of the frame pivoted to and swinging on the one thereof and having a slide permitting embracing engagement with the other.

An example of a folding chair constructed under and in accordance with this invention is illustrated inthe accompanying drawings, in which I v Figure 1 is a perspective view of the chair set up. Figs. 2, 3, and 4 are views of the chair having the parts thereof folded, Fig. 2

being a front view, Fig. 3 a section longitudi nally as taken on line 3 3, Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 an edge view. Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing a portion of one of the side bars of the main frame, the clip swiveled to and at the side thereof and a portion of one of the side bars of the secondary frame, which is embraced by and slides throughthe swivelclip. Fig. 6 is substantially a sectional view through the parts shown in Fig. 5 as taken on the line 6 6. Figs. 7 and 8 are respeclarly from the said members 10.

tively erspective and sectional views of the same ustrative character as the two receding views, but showing a minor deta' in the construction ofthe swiveled clip.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all of the views.

In the drawings, A represents the main frame of the chair of rectangular form and which when the chair is set up constitutes the chair-back and in part the leg-support for the seat B, and Crepresents the secondary frame, which constitutes in part the leg-support for the seat.

The. main frame, as shown, consists of the pair of bars a a, suitably separated and ar-.

ranged in parallelism, said bars being constituted by angle-iron, the outer flange members 1O 10 thereof being disposed in parallel planes which are vertical, while the flange members 12 12 project inwardly right angu- Slats or bars 13, of wood, or back-constituting parts composed of any suitable material extend from one side member to the other, uniting and bracing the upper part of the frame, and in the present instance these bars are riveted, as at-14, to the angle-flanges 12. A bar 15 is similarly united to the lower ends ofthe side bars of the main frame. The seat B comprises the paired side bars I) b, which are also of angle iron, having vertically disposed flange members 16 and the right-angularly inwardly-extended flange members 17 17, which constitute ledges to support the seatconstituting slats ,which are riveted thereto, as indicated at 18, or such flanges 17 may serve as a support for anyseat-constitut'mg material other than wooden'bars. The rear extremity 19 of each seat-frame side bar is angularly formed, as shown, and pivotally connected at 20 to the outer flange 10 of the relatively adjacent main-frame side bar at about the middle portion thereof.

The secondary frame 0 comprises the opposite side bars 0 c, which at their forward upper ends by pivots 22 are jointed to the forward end-portions of the seat-frame laterally relatively-thereto, and regarded as in the setup aspect of the chair said side bars 0 0 extend obliquely downwardly and rearwardly, crossing at about their middle portions comrod paratively closely and outside of the mainframe side bars a, a,.there being combined with the crossing portions of the main and,

secondary side frame-bars devices or clips each of which is pivoted to and for a swinging movement on the one of the side bars and has a slide-permitting and a movement guiding or constraining embrace or engagement with the other of the side bars. As specifically shown, this device or clip (represented at D) is at pivoted to the outer flange 10 of the main-frame side bar, so that its base or tion 26 may have a swiveling or partia rotary motion in a vertical plane and about an axis which is horizontal and transverse relatively to the main frame. The said clip has an outwardly-extending member 27, shown as a stud, which extends across and in engagement with one edge of the secondary side bar, the inner face of such side bar being arranged for sliding movement against and outside of the face of the base portion 26 of the device D, and the device D, furthermore, comprises the member 28, which extends across and in proximity to the edge of the secondary-frame side bar opposite from the edge or part engaged by the stud 27, said member being inwardly continued by the flange or lip 29, which overlaps the outer face of the secondary-frame side bar. Thus it will be seen that in any swinging movements of the parts to fold up or to open and set up the chair, the different relative positions being fully and clearly represented in the drawings, the clips are always effective to keep the side bars of both the main and secondary frames the one closely relatively to the other and yet to permit with entire freedom the one bar to slide endwise as to its own length through the clip which has the embracing engagement there with.

By making the rear extremities of the seatframe side bars 6 with the angular extensions v19 adjacent the pivots 20 and by making the upper forward portions of the secondaryframe side bars with the forward extension bends 21 adjacent the pivots 22 one is enabled to swing the seat-frame, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, so that it is against and parallel with the chair-back, at the same time having the side bars 0 c of the secondary frame arranged alongside and exactly conformable to the length of the main -frame sidebars, the bends 21 even in such dispositions easily reaching across forwardly to the points of pivotal connection at the lateral front portions of the seat-frame.

The secondary frame has the side members a 0 thereof united at the bottom by the cross brace-bar 0 which may be of wood or other suitable rigid material.

While both of the forms of the clips shown in Figs. 5 and 6 and in Figs. 7 and 8 are in substance the same so far as function and efficiency are concerned, in the latter figures the slight modification in detail is shown in that instead of the clip base or back 26 having an integrally-formed ear bent twice at right angles, as at 28 29, the corresponding parts are constituted by a stud 28, having a notch in its side toward the edge of the frame-bar (2, whereby the part 29, constituting the outer notch boundary, overlaps the outer face of the side-frame member 0.

Of course the constructor may at his election have the seat or the back, or both, in whole or in part as to each constituted by non-rigid material, such as carpet, canvas, or the like.

As the parts are opened up from the folded positions (shown in Figs. 2 to 4) the side bars 0 0, having a downwardly-sliding movement through the swiveled and then swinging clips D, have the stop-studs g g on their inner sides brought to abutment against the edges of the clips, limiting the relative movements of the parts against a too wide opening-up and preventing the collapsing downwardly of the properly-positioned horizontal seat.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a folding chair, in combination, the main frame constituted by opposite parallel metallic angle-bars with a flange member of each outwardly arranged and in a vertical plane, and transverse upper back-constituting bars and a lower brace-bar attached to the transversely-disposed portions of said angle-bars, the seat comprising an oppositelyarranged pair of angle bars, the rear extremities of which are pivoted at the outer side, and at intermediate portions of the main-frame bars, and having cross-boards or seat-supporting material secured thereto, the secondary frame comprising a pair of shorter bars, the upper forward portions of which are pivoted to the forward extremities of the seat side bars at the outer sides thereof, and having a lower cross uniting-bar, a clip pivotally connected to and at the outer side of each main-frame side bar below the seat, and having an embrace and slide permitting engagement with the side bars of the secondary frame.

2. In a folding chair, in combination, the main frame constituted by opposite parallel metallic angle-bars with a flange member of each outwardly arranged and in a vertical plane, and transverse upper backconstitut ing bars and a lower brace-bar attached to the transversely-disposed portions of said angle-bars, the seat comprising an oppositelyarranged pair of angle-bars, the rear extremities of which are pivoted at the outer side, and at intermediate portions of the mainframe bars, and seat-supporting material secured thereto, the secondary frame comprising a pair of shorter bars, the upper forward portions of which are pivoted to the forward extremities of the seat side bars, clips piv0tally connected to and at the outer side of Signed by me at Springfield, Massachueach main-frame side bar below the seat and setts, in presence of tWo subscribing withaving a slide-permitting embrace about the nesses. side bars of the secondary frame, and a stud 5 on each secondary-frame side bar arranged Witnesses:

to engage the adjacent clip and to act as a WM. S. BELLows, stop. A. V. LEAHY.

CASPAR METTLER; 

